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Learning Outcomes By the end of this chapter you will be able to accomplish the following objectives:

• Articulate the major themes that influence the teaching of English language learners.

• Apply the themes to a lesson plan in social studies for a class of diverse learners.

• Describe how emergent digital media can be used in the planning and delivery of curriculum and instruction.

• Compare traditional assessment tools with those made possible by digital media and evaluate their useful- ness for the classroom teacher.

• Explain why professional learning communities are valuable to teachers, especially teachers of dual language learners.

Putting It All Together 10

Oki_SwanOmurphy_/iStock/Thinkstock

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Section 10.1 The Synthesis: Twelve Takeaways for Teaching ELLs

Introduction This chapter has three purposes. The first is to synthesize the key ideas that shaped the last nine chapters into the dozen major themes that best capture the information and discus- sions that have emerged. The second is to apply that synthesis by examining how the 12 ideas are represented in practice by peeking over the shoulder of one practicing teacher. The third purpose is to examine how teaching practice can be enhanced by two emergent trends: the growing use of digital technologies and the establishment of professional learning communi- ties (PLCs).

We begin by identifying the topics that have recurred again and again as we examined them from a variety of perspectives, and then we see how these topics relate to an ELL teacher’s classroom practice. More precisely, we will work through a real exercise—a teacher’s intro- ductory lesson plan for a social studies unit for his diverse sixth grade class. Actually, you will see only part of the teacher’s plan, a skeleton that provides you with the opportunity to add flesh by applying what you have learned by completing and supplementing the plan with ideas of your own. In completing the plan, it is likely that you will look for ideas. Where you look and how you plan will likely mirror what highly effective teachers do regularly—look for digital resources and find out what others are doing. The last two sections of the chapter rec- ognize the fact that the demands placed on teachers today necessitate a greater and broader pool of resources. Being able to adapt to and to use newer technologies effectively to plan, teach, and evaluate is part of a teacher’s professional skill set, and particularly, as schools commit to meeting the high standards set by the Common Core, the ability to work coopera- tively and collaboratively with other educators is also an essential tool.

10.1 The Synthesis: Twelve Takeaways for Teaching ELLs We have covered a great deal of material in the previous nine chapters, and as we have seen, certain topics recurred again and again as we examined many of the same issues from differ- ent perspectives or through different lenses. For example, we first visited the topic of culture in Chapter 1 in a description of the demographics of the United States and how an increas- ingly diverse population is impacting our classrooms. But culture was also a dominant topic for discussion in Chapter 2 in our discussion of the relationship between language, learning, and culture. Because this relationship underlies every decision we make about ELLs, whether in placement, program and curriculum planning, instruction, or assessment, we revisited cul- ture multiple times. Culture emerges, then, as the first of 12 themes that emerge from the previous chapters:

1. Culture shapes how we see the world, and culture shock, which occurs when a person moves from one culture to another, can affect ELLs’ adjustment to school- ing as well as their success in learning the language and making progress in school. Teachers must be open to learning about new cultures and sensitive to the different perspectives ELLs have on the world.

2. Learners commonly referred to as ELLs are an extremely diverse group. These learners don’t all arrive conveniently in kindergarten, learn English in two years, and continue in mainstream classes until graduation. They arrive at different ages speaking different languages, (although according to the Center for Public Education,

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http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Instruction/What-research-says-about-English-language-learners-At-a-glance/Preparing-English-language-learners-for-academic-success.html

Section 10.1 The Synthesis: Twelve Takeaways for Teaching ELLs

79% of ELLs in the United States speak Spanish), and take different lengths of time to become proficient in English. Some will have language or learning impairments and others will be gifted. They will arrive with different levels of education, first language literacy, and with different attitudes toward Americans and schooling. This diversity is what makes teaching ELLs such a challenge and such a joy.

3. The four language domains (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) are inextrica- bly linked in the school context. In an informal setting, it is perfectly possible for a person to learn to speak the language without learning to read and write it—infants do it, as do the nearly 800 million illiterate people in the world, 67 million of them children, who do not have access to schooling (Cree, Kay, & Steward, 2012). We have also seen that it is possible to acquire a “reading” knowledge of a language without having much oral proficiency. Neither condition is ideal, of course, and in the school setting it is impossible. All four skills can and should be taught together, although some degree of oral language usually comes first.

4. Background knowledge and linguistic and educational experience profoundly affect success in both language and content learning. No learner of any age is a tabula rasa. What ELLs bring in terms of prior education and literacy not only influences the speed with which they will learn English, it affects the program options available, and teaching methods and techniques used, and can ultimately influence their suc- cess in school.

5. The goal of language teaching and learning is communicative competence, which must include both social and academic language facility. To help their ELLs to achieve communicative competence, teachers need to ensure that the language they hear and see (in print or other visual forms) is challenging but comprehensible, but they also have to take into account the affective variables of motivation, attitude, anxiety and self-confidence. The quality of interaction is extremely important for achieving comprehensible input and for lowering the barriers that may be pres- ent due to learners’ uncertainty or anxiety. The result should be communicative language teaching that is learner-centered, does not focus on errors, emphasizes listening and speaking, and does not rely (heavily, if at all) on any use of the home language.

6. English should be viewed as an additional language, not a replacement for the home language. This is an extremely important viewpoint for teachers of ELLs to hold and to embody in everything they do. Everything an ELL has learned in the past is impor- tant to the learning that will occur. Moreover, as we saw in Chapter 3, there is strong research evidence that bilingualism may confer significant cognitive advantages. Any indication on the school’s part that English is somehow more important or is meant to replace the home language is not only ill-conceived; it is counterproductive to learners’ motivation and adaptation.

7. The interdisciplinary focus and organization of the Common Core standards accords with communicative language teaching (CLT) because CLT emphasizes authentic, purposeful language use and practice.

8. Literacy is at the heart of learning English and content simultaneously. All content learning in school is dependent on the ability to read and the ability to demonstrate that learning is dependent on the ability to write. In order for ELLs to succeed in acquiring all the curricular content and to demonstrate their understanding, they have to be able to read and write at progressively higher levels of proficiency. The Common Core State Standards focus primarily on literacy precisely because it is foundational to all content learning.

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Section 10.2 Applying ELL Teaching Techniques

9. In Chapter 7, we saw that the CCSS are centered on reading and math skills, with the expectation that reasoning and comprehension skills advance each year. Care- ful planning is needed to build language and content skills incrementally, and it is important to know the abilities and skills of each learner in order to know when and how to adapt reading or writing tasks to the appropriate level without compromis- ing the content. One way of accomplishing this is the use of educational scaffolding.

10. ELLs are overrepresented on the rolls of special education programs and are under- represented in gifted programs. One of the reasons for this disproportionality is the fact that few measures exist that can assess language or learning impairments both in English and the ELL’s home language.

11. The entire issue of assessment is problematic for ELLs. Standardized tests, school or district tests, classroom tests, are all language dependent and thus run the risk of not truly representing what ELLs know. Accommodations need to be made to ensure fairness and accuracy of results.

12. Diverse learners require diversified instruction (one size does not fit all). Based on the information they gather from a variety of sources, teachers use knowledge about learners and the multitude of factors that influence how they learn to create high-impact strategies or adapt strategies for mainstream learners in order to help ELLs to succeed linguistically and academically.

These 12 points summarize the breadth of the business of teaching English to dual language learners. Developing depth as a teacher, however, requires experience, but it also requires ongoing effort. Teaching ELLs is a joy but it is also a huge challenge, and so it is incumbent on us as teachers to keep current through ongoing professional development (PD), and to exploit all avail- able resources. In the remainder of this chapter, as we continue to synthesize what we have learned so far, we will also discuss the use of those resources from the per- spective of one teacher, Alejandro Sanchez, a sixth grade teacher in a suburban school.

10.2 Applying ELL Teaching Techniques Just as the four language domains, or skills, are not acquired independently. nor independent of critical thinking skills, the techniques used in teaching should not be one-dimensional. They must be varied and tailored to the task and to the learner. We know that there are many differ- ent ways in which students learn and that certain learning styles, or preferences, respond better to certain kinds of input than to others—some learners need to see print or other visual forms, while others are able to recall well after hearing the material once or twice. Some people learn more readily on their own, but others learn more effectively in groups, and there are several other dimensions along which learners may vary. The teacher’s goal is to make input compre- hensible to all.

Monkeybusinessimages/iStock/Thinkstock Diverse children require diversified instruction. Computer-based technologies make it easier for teachers to individualize learning plans.

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Section 10.2 Applying ELL Teaching Techniques

To make input comprehensible to diverse learners, teachers must take advantage of the wide range of media available to them. For many years, teachers have used realia, gestures, pictures, drama, captioned video, and a whole host of other media, in addition to print. In recent years, they have also been able to take advantage of content available electronically and accessible by computer or other electronic devices. Although the term multimedia is often used with particular reference to information that is created, played, displayed, or accessed by computer or other electronic devices, here we use the term in its original meaning: content that uses different forms of media.

We have seen throughout this book that it is possible to work on all four language skills even when the focus is on content and one particular skill, such as social studies content and read- ing comprehension. Rather than reiterate what we have already seen, let’s look instead at how one teacher integrated the four language skills content using a variety of media for ELLs and native English speakers in the same class.

An Extended Example: Mr. Sanchez’s Sixth Grade Lesson Alejandro Sanchez is in his third year of teaching in a suburban elementary-middle school. At the beginning of the school year, his roster of sixth grade students included 13 native speak- ers of English and 10 English language learners. He knew that most of the ELLs were Spanish speakers because he had supervised them in lunch room and recess the previous year. Two ELLs were new to the school according to the notes the principal had attached to the roster. One was a newly arrived Argentinian boy named David and the other was Elena, a Russian girl who had been adopted a few months earlier by a U.S. family. The principal noted that Elena appeared to understand some English and that it was likely that she had had limited educa- tion in Russia; she had attended school “in the orphanage.” Mr. Sanchez had done sufficient reading to know that was code for very basic or no formal education. The other eight ELLs were Spanish speakers, and although Mr. Sanchez hoped that in sixth grade they would be fully bilingual, he knew that was not always the case.

Even before he met the class, Mr. Sanchez was concerned about Elena. He knew that she would likely need an intensive English language program of some kind if she were to have any hope of catching up with her classmates. Unfortunately, the school did not have many options, but before he could consider what might be available, he needed a clear picture of her language proficiency in English. He also needed to know more about her literacy level in Russian, how much schooling she had had and what deficiencies she might have. He decided to test David and Elena together on English language proficiency using the instrument that the district approved for ELLs, the LAS Links, a test intended to test proficiency in all four language domains in order to determine the correct placement of newly arrived ELLs, (see Chapter 4). Unfortunately, this test would not be given for several weeks and he would be meeting his class in ten days. What would he do?

He wasn’t too worried about David. Bilingual himself, Mr. Sanchez was confident of his abili- ties to learn a great deal about David’s abilities by talking with him and his family and by administering an informal reading inventory (IRI), which he could administer in both Spanish and English, if necessary. He was more concerned about Elena because he knew less about her background and nothing at all about the Russian language. He called the district office and talked to the consultant who said that they had no resources in Russian, but that she would consult with her colleague in another district. A few days before students were to begin, when he still had not heard from the district office, he decided to proceed with Elena in the same way as with David. If he later had reason to suspect any kind of learning disability or language

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Section 10.2 Applying ELL Teaching Techniques

impairment, he would worry about finding a way to assess her in Russian then. In the mean- time, he called the families of the two children and learned as much as he could about them.

Planning for Diversity After much thought, Mr. Sanchez decided to begin by conducting an informal reading assess- ment. For the IRI, Mr. Sanchez chose this passage from ReadWorks that was appropriate for fifth graders in content and at a reading level that would be accessible to many third and most fifth graders:

Earth Science: Earthquakes

One summer I was in Las Vegas with my family. Our hotel room was on one of the top floors of a high-rise building. There was a morning of that vacation I will never forget. We woke up around 6:00 a.m. The building was shaking and swaying back and forth like a pendulum. It was an earthquake. Las Vegas is in the western state of Nevada, which is right next to California. The epicenter was actually in California, but we still felt it over 100 miles away.

Earthquakes occur when plates in the Earth’s crust rub together. This friction causes the surface to shift back and forth. It also makes huge cracks in the ground, sometimes miles long and several feet deep.

Luckily, that summer in Las Vegas, my family got out of the building safely. I was never so scared in all my life. Others in history have not been so fortunate. On Jan. 17, 1995, an earthquake struck in Kobe, Japan. It caused over 6,000 deaths. In 1906, a huge earthquake hit San Francisco, killing over 3,000 peo- ple and destroying over 25,000 buildings. (Grade 5, 185 words, Lexile 710)

The boldfaced words had definitions provided (in English) at the bot- tom of the page. Working with each student separately, Mr. Sanchez gave them as much time as they needed to read the brief passage, and then asked them a series of questions orally. His assessment of David confirmed what the boy’s parents had told him, that he was a good student and a fast learner. David’s answers were brief and awkwardly phrased, and he resorted to Spanish occasionally to make himself understood, but it was clear that he had been able to understand the passage. He had understood, for example, the inference that being on a high floor in a hotel was scarier than being on a lower floor, although he had to explain it in Spanish.

Elena was a different matter. Mr. Sanchez knew that Russian has a different alphabet, but her adopted family had assured him that she had learned the English alphabet already and could “read a little.” When he gave her the passage, she stared at the paper for two or three minutes before looking up. When Mr. Sanchez asked “Where is Las Vegas?” she shrugged her shoul- ders. When he pointed to the paper and asked her “What is this about?” she replied, “Story.” “What is the story about?” he asked. She looked at the page again and then said, “Family,” and then continued, “Family go trip.” “Where?” he asked. “Japan,” she responded. At this point, Mr. Sanchez realized that she had some decoding and word recognition skills (Chapter 6) but she was a long way from being able to cope with the sixth grade curriculum. He called the

What questions would you ask?

Should this concern Mr. Sanchez?

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Section 10.2 Applying ELL Teaching Techniques

district office and insisted that they send either an ELL teacher or a reading specialist to work with Elena. The district office agreed to send an ESL specialist to work with Elena for an hour a day, four days a week (Chapter 4). Ms. Davison would work with Elena on her language skills but she would integrate her work with whatever content the class was working on. It would be a team effort, the ESL specialist explained on her first day. Beginning in the second week of school, Elena spent one hour a day with Ms. Davison, except on Wednesdays, and the remain- der of the time she was in class with Mr. Sanchez and 22 other sixth graders.

To see how Mr. Sanchez planned for his very diverse class—besides the ELLs, the 13 native speakers represented a wide range of abilities including one student who was likely gifted and one who had a mild learning disability—we skip ahead to the end of the beginning of the second quarter. The social studies lesson he planned to introduce—a unit on home- lessness—demonstrates integrated content, language objectives and activities, a variety of teaching techniques, and multimedia materials. As you read the following lesson plan and participate in expanding it, think about what additional themes are applied from the previ- ous nine chapters.

Teacher(s): Mr. Sanchez

Subject: Social Studies

Grade: Six_________ Time allotted: 1.5—2.5 hours

Part 1: Setting Objectives

Content objectives

Relevance/ rationale

Language objectives (ELL modifications indicated in italics.)

CCSS alignment

To state the main causes of homelessness

To raise aware- ness about the plight of the homeless

Key vocabulary (in boldface in passage)

RI.6.1 RI.6.2 RI.6.10 RI.6.4 L.6.4.A L.6.4.B L.6.4.C L.6.4.D

To explain the relation- ship between poverty and homelessness

To understand that people do not choose to be homeless

Reading To read with sufficient comprehension to answer the following:

1. What social issue is the focus of the passage? 2. What are homeless shelters? 3. What are the two main reasons that people

are homeless? 4. Why don’t all homeless people live in govern-

ment housing? 5. What is the link between homelessness and

poverty? 6. Why does homelessness cause stress on

families? 7. What kind of stress? 8. Why do you think the author wrote this

article?

RI.6.1 RI.6.3 RI.6.6

(continued)

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http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RI/6/

http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/L/6/

http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RI/6/

Section 10.2 Applying ELL Teaching Techniques

Part 1: Setting Objectives (continued)

Content objectives

Relevance/ rationale

Language objectives (ELL modifications indicated in italics.)

CCSS alignment

The ESL teacher recommended working with Elena on a simplified passage and simplified wording of the comprehension questions before it was intro- duced in class.

To differentiate between claims supported by fact, and evidence from claims that are not supported by fact

To compare and differenti- ate between three kinds of homelessness

To avoid mak- ing negative judgments about the homeless To articulate why unin- formed judg- ments about people are often wrong

Listening To demonstrate comprehension by taking of notes prior to reading passage To demonstrate comprehension by following all directions and responding to questions.

To describe the choices that poverty forces people to make and explain why they are difficult

Speaking To answer the eight questions in sentences flu- ently and with appropriate detail To ask questions arising from the text To ask appropriate questions seeking clarification

SL6.1.A SL6.1.B SL6.1.D SL6.1.C

To explain what is meant by pub- lic assistance and why it may be needed

Writing To take notes on the pre-reading vocabulary activity To use idioms from the passage in original sentences

To answer the eight comprehension questions in well-formed sentences To produce a 250-word paper on a subject related to passage

SLW.6.4 SLW.6.5 SLW.6.6 SLW.6.7 SLW.6.8

Grammar To correctly use the relative clause formation (There are also homeless people who . . .) using who and which

Text structure To explain the writer’s point of view or purpose for writing the text To explain what a chosen sentence fits into the structure of the paragraph or text

RI.6.6 RI.6.5

Which CCSS standard aligns with this goal? What activi- ties would you add to the delivery plan to help students meet this standard?

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http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/SL/6/

http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/6/

http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RI/6/

Section 10.2 Applying ELL Teaching Techniques

Part 2: Delivery

Lesson sequence Technique (ELL modifications indicated in italics.)

Materials

Introduction/ orientation Show pictures of homeless people beginning with most obvious (i.e., “street people” and concluding with a child going to school with a backpack), mak- ing the point that these people all have something in common that we can’t see. Elicit possibilities and list on board.

Elicit what all the people shown in the photos have in common. Multiple paraphrases:

How are they all alike?

What is the same about all these people?

What could they have in common that you might not see?

Ask additional questions (e.g., if student says “they are sad,” ask Why do you think they are sad? Or What makes them sad? How do you know they are sad?

Provide advance organizer for the passage and sentence frames for the questions

Provide simplified passage for ELLs who are reading significantly below fifth grade level or below Lexile 700

Pictures

Teacher presentation/ modeling

Read the text aloud. Present simplified version of text first for ELLs with lower literacy skills (see below).

Text (See Homelessness) Simplified version of text

Student participation/ practice

Rephrase some comprehension questions (#5: Why are poor people more likely to be homeless? And #8, Why can we not ignore homelessness?)

ELLs use simplified text as prompts for answering comprehension questions.

Others?

*Reader participation especially encouraged in this area

Independent practice

Group discussion: Small groups discuss “What can we do to help eliminate home- lessness?” Take notes and be prepared to report back to class Pair less proficient ELLs with academically strong native speakers.

Other ideas?

*Reader participation especially encouraged in this area

Synthesis/ summary Introduce new vocabulary and idioms before viewing video

Ask learners to put up their hands if there is a part they do not understand. Teacher does not stop the viewing but makes note of the part to address later with ELLs.

Make video available for students to view later.

Related reading

See NBC reporter Ann Curry’s Employed but Still Homeless video at

https://www.youtube.com /watch?v=MdbHEZp0WPA Students could make their own video about homelessness in their town or city. Sarah Lean’s book A Dog Called Home- less (Lexile 660)

Other ideas?

*Reader participation especially encouraged in this area

Why would Mr. S. use fifth grade and 700 Lexile as cut off for sixth graders?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdbHEZp0WPA

Section 10.2 Applying ELL Teaching Techniques

Part 3: Formative assessment

Content objectives Language objectives

What defines success? How measured? (ELL modifications indicated in italics.)

To state the main causes of homelessness

Answers in accord with text Answers that could be extrapo- lated from text

Less proficient ELLs complete statement: Poor people might be homeless because . . . .

Correct answers to quiz ques- tions (written) Accept oral answers or provide prompts for written answers (the words, transitional, chronic, episodic).

To explain the rela- tionship between poverty and homelessness

Response, orally or in writ- ing, that poor people have little money and fewer choices about how to spend it, and housing is expensive

To compare and dif- ferentiate between three kinds of homelessness

Ability to differentiate

To describe the choices that poverty forces people to make and explain why they are difficult

*Reader participation espe- cially encouraged in this area

*Reader participation especially encouraged in this area

To explain what is meant by public assistance and why it may be needed

Understanding of key vocabulary

Ability to use correctly in speech and writing Ability to identify and use alternative forms (e.g., epi- sodic/episode or transient/ transition/transitional) Ability to use in other contexts

Key words used in oral and written responses Quiz at end of lesson: ______________ refers to something that happens occasionally and at irregular intervals. Matching exercise with words on one side of the paper and defini- tions on the other

Others?

*Reader partici- pation especially encouraged in this area

The Passage: “About Homelessness” Homelessness is an issue that affects people of every age and from every country. If you walk down the street in many big cities in the United States, you might notice people sleeping on the sidewalk or begging for food or money. These individuals are very visible to passersby, and it is difficult to ignore them. But there are also homeless people who do not sleep on the streets. They are not as visible to the public eye, but they are also homeless. These people often spend their nights sleeping in shelters, which provide food, rooms, and often a variety

Why is it fair to use these terms as prompts?

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Section 10.2 Applying ELL Teaching Techniques

of social services (like daycare). We might not see these people on the streets, but it does not mean that they aren’t suffering.

When thinking about homelessness, one of the first questions that might come to mind is: why are people homeless? People become homeless for a variety of reasons, often outside of their own personal control. Two key reasons have been identified on why people become homeless. The first is a lack of affordable housing. The second is poverty, or the condition of being poor. The government is usually responsible for providing affordable housing to people and families in need. It builds large apartment buildings or housing developments for people who cannot afford to live elsewhere. Sometimes there is not enough affordable housing for all the people who need it. Those who are unable to secure housing may become homeless.

Homelessness and poverty are quite clearly linked. Poor people must often choose between such important things as buying food or paying for medical care versus paying the rent. When poor people are faced with these difficult decisions, housing is often the first expense to be dropped because it generally requires the most amount of money. Many of the homeless in the United States are simply unable to find jobs due to a lack of opportunity. Others are men- tally ill or addicted to drugs. Still others who are homeless have previously relied on public assistance but have lost that assistance for one reason or another. An example of a public assistance program is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides help for people who struggle to afford healthy and nutritious food.

There are three distinct kinds of homelessness. The first is called chronic homelessness, and it represents the group of people who move from shelter to shelter in a seemingly never-ending cycle. Often, the chronically homeless are older, and often suffer from disabilities or addiction. The second type of homelessness is called transitional homelessness, and it describes people who must enter a shelter for a short period of time. For example, if they are evicted from their homes for not being able to pay the rent, they might go into a shelter or enter government-based transitional housing. They may live there for up to two years until they are able to get back on their feet. The third kind of homeless is called episodic homelessness, which accounts for peo- ple who move in and out of shelters at various points throughout their life. Those who experience episodic homelessness usually have difficulty maintaining steady employment. People who are considered transitionally homeless and those who are episodically homeless are often young.

Homelessness rises when people are unable to find or keep jobs. But it also affects people who are not even employed in the first place—children under sixteen years old. As minors, they are not legally allowed to work. According to the National Center on Family Homelessness, one in every 45 children experiences homelessness each year. Most families that experience homeless- ness are made up of a mother and her children. The National Center on Family Homelessness reports that 29% of adults in homeless families in the United States are working. Yet the wages are often not enough to support the various needs of a family, like healthcare, food, and shel- ter. Furthermore, many families try to stay out of shelters. Shelters can be noisy, overcrowded, and stressful places for both children and parents. These families would often rather stay at the homes of friends or relatives, or even sleep in their cars. Families that experience homelessness in any situation are under a ton of stress, due to the lack of stability and privacy.

There are no simple solutions to this major social issue. But homelessness affects too many people around the world to be ignored. (Grade 4, 731 words, Lexile 1120)

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Section 10.2 Applying ELL Teaching Techniques

The Modified Passage Homelessness affects people of every age and every country. In many cities, you might see people sleeping on the sidewalk or begging for food or money. It is easy to see these people but hard to ignore them. Not all homeless people sleep outside, and we do not see them. These people often sleep in shelters that provide food, rooms, and often some social services (like daycare). We might not see these people on the streets, but they are suffering.

Why are people homeless? There are two main reasons that people become homeless. One is that housing costs too much where they live. The second is poverty. The government some- times builds large apartment buildings or housing developments for people who cannot afford to live elsewhere. Sometimes there is not enough of this housing for everybody who needs it. When people cannot find a place to live that they can afford, they may become homeless.

Homelessness and poverty are clearly related. Sometimes poor people must choose between buying food, or healthcare, and paying the rent. When poor people are forced to choose, they may not choose housing because it costs more. Many homeless people in the United States cannot find jobs because there are no jobs nearby or because they do not have the skills to do the jobs. Others may be mentally ill or addicted to drugs. Still others once received govern- ment assistance but lost that assistance. An example of a government assistance program is one that provides help for buying food.

There are three different kinds of homelessness. The first is chronic homelessness and describes people who move from shelter to shelter over a long period of time. Often, the chronically homeless are older, and often suffer from disabilities or addiction.

The second type of homelessness is, transitional homelessness and it describes people who are homeless for a short period of time. For example, if they are evicted from their homes because they cannot pay the rent, they might go to a shelter or enter government housing. They may live there for up to two years until they are able to afford other housing.

The third kind of homelessness, episodic homelessness, describes people who move in and out of shelters at various points throughout their lives. These homeless people usually have a hard time keeping a job. They are often young. More people are homeless when people are unable to find or keep jobs. Some are children under sixteen years old who are not legally allowed to work. According to the National Center on Family Homelessness, one in every 45 children is homeless. Most homeless families are made up of a mother and her children. The National Center on Family Homelessness reports that 29% of adults in homeless families have jobs but do not earn enough to pay for the things their families need. Also, many families try to avoid shelters. Shelters can be noisy, overcrowded, and stressful places for everyone. These families would often rather stay at the homes of friends or relatives, or even sleep in their cars. Homeless families are under a lot of stress because they have no privacy and their future is uncertain.

There are no simple solutions to this major social issue. But homelessness affects too many people around the world to be ignored. (555 words, Lexile 970)

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Section 10.3 Using Digital Technology

10.3 Using Digital Technology Mr. Sanchez’s lesson on homelessness utilized a number of different media, but because of the rapid increase in the availability and use of electronic devices and applica- tions, we should take a closer look at some of the ways in which electronic media can be used to support learn- ing inside and outside the classroom to realize learning objectives and to foster independence. We also need to consider how teachers can make use of newer technolo- gies for assessing, tracking, and reporting student prog- ress. Our discussion will not be exhaustive because new applications appear with such speed that they are hard to track and evaluate. The point of this section is to exam- ine some of the possibilities and to encourage teachers to stay abreast of developments in technology for educa- tional use.

Classroom Applications Students need to be “self-directed learners, effectively seeking out and using resources to assist them, including teachers, peers, and print and digital reference materials.” (CCSS, ELA Anchor Standards)

One way to engage students actively in the process of learning is to use a variety of media, especially those most familiar to them such as electronic notebooks and tablets. Using these media helps to maintain interest while carefully chosen applications advance learning. More- over, as we saw in Chapter 7, while the CCSS do not specify a separate set of standards for technology, there is a clear expectation of technological proficiency in both the English lan- guage arts/reading and the mathematical standards. As stated in the standards,

New technologies have broadened and expanded the role that speaking and listening play in acquiring and sharing knowledge and have tightened their link to other forms of communication. Digital texts confront students with the potential for continually updated content and dynamically changing combinations of words, graphics, images, hyperlinks, and embedded video and audio. (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2015)

Mathematically proficient students at various grade levels are able to identify relevant external mathematical resources, such as digital content located on a website, and use them to pose or solve problems. They are able to use tech- nological tools to explore and deepen their understanding of concepts. (Com- mon Core State Standards Initiative, 2015)

Digital media, and particularly the Internet, have accelerated the speed at which the connec- tions can be made between speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Students are required to

Zhekos/iStock/Thinkstock Digital technology is transforming the way that children learn and teachers teach. These boys are as comfortable with digital tablets as they are with coloring books.

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Section 10.3 Using Digital Technology

use all four modalities, often simultaneously and across all content areas. So while technologi- cal savvy is in itself a goal, there is little need to treat it as a separate subject in the curriculum because the need to use the tools of current technology is embedded into every aspect of the curriculum from preschool through university. The challenge for teachers is that what is “cur- rent” changes extremely rapidly, meaning that both teachers and learners need to be adapt- able in response to that change. Ellen, the teacher we met in Chapter 1, puts the issue into temporal context in A Teacher’s Story: Change and Challenge.

A Teacher’s Story: Change and Challenge

I remember in my third or fourth year of teaching, my colleagues and I were upset when the district made the decision to change the math text book series for grades one through three. I was comfortable with the old series and couldn’t see any reason for changing it. To make matters worse, they also changed the social studies text to make it more accurate. Well, I was very comfortable with the math and social studies books, and I was not happy about so much change happening so fast. Can you imagine? I thought that was change!

In this last decade of my career, I’ve had to cope with NCLB, with the adoption of the Common Core State Standards, with a new computer adaptive system for measuring student progress, and with my school’s new tablet policy—this year, every third grader was issued an electronic tablet and the school held a workshop for teachers that lasted for two full days on how to integrate them into our teaching. When I started teaching, a tablet was made of cardboard and paper, and we didn’t need professional development to learn how to use it. Now, a tablet looks like a miniature television set, and even after the PD (personal development), it feels like I spend most of my time online just trying to catch up with what the kids know how to do when they took them out of the boxes. Now that is change!

But somehow, as I enter my final year in the classroom, I am beginning to see that technology can be used to make concepts clearer. If a learner is struggling, I know it sooner and I am able to search a number of source materials for an alternate way of illustrating the troublesome concept and do it quickly. Digital libraries make many more stories and books available, and it is easy to determine readability for individual learners. Homework has become easier to customize to the needs of individual learners, and I’ve seen my ELLs benefit especially from being able to listen to audio versions of text as they follow along. Interactive comprehension questions allow them to work at their own pace, and there are some excellent games available that really are educational. Every day, I see more potential for using these new technologies to augment and supplement my teaching. When a bilingual boy suspected of having a learning disability was assigned to my class, I not only had the school district’s resources to call on, I also had an online community to consult. I was able to find excellent materials, a list of support services in Spanish available in our community, and suggestions for adapting my teaching to include Jake. I also found that it was easier to communicate with parents via email or text—I could see whether they had read my messages or not, which was a great improvement over the days when I could only hope that the note I sent home actually got there.

Last year, my colleague Jim’s fifth grade class built a class website they named “Our Space in Cyberspace.” It is on the school’s intranet so everyone in the school can view it, and parents

(continued)

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Section 10.3 Using Digital Technology

We learn from Ellen and Mr. Sanchez that there are many applications for new technologies.

1. Communicating with parents. Parental involvement is important to learners’ success. Setting up parent-teacher conferences, inviting them to school events such as con- certs or plays, soliciting volunteers for field trips or class activities, notifying them of upcoming educational or sports events—technology can play a role in all of these. Many schools produce a regular electronic newsletter to keep parents informed about and to try to engage them in classroom activities.

2. Engaging learners. Even experienced teachers face the task of getting learners interested in and actively engaged in learning content that does not immediately appeal to them. Solar energy, for example, might not be a compelling topic for study for some fourth graders. Introducing it with key words or a list of facts about the sun might be helpful, especially for ELLs’ comprehension, but will likely do little to excite learners. One teacher, while doing an Internet search, found a website called What If ? that gave him an idea. He began by taking a contrarian approach: By presenting the case that the sun going out would have many benefits to humans, and then he challenged the students to prove that the disadvantages would outweigh the advan- tages. Before allowing the students to go searching for counterexamples, this teacher led them to pose hypotheses about what might happen if the sun went out and why they thought so and then to search for the evidence in support of their hypotheses.

Another way to engage learners is with electronic interactive textbooks. The text- books of today go well beyond pictures to supplement text with hyperlinks to web sites that may include assignments, assessments, animations, supplemental materi- als, video and audio files.

3. Publishing and celebrating learners’ work. Poster board displays are becoming a thing of the past as software takes over the job of displaying information, illustrat- ing relationships, and generally demonstrating what learners know about a subject. There are Web tools available that allow learners to create a multimedia presenta- tion to illustrate what they know. More traditional formats are also made easier. Using students’ contributions to create class books, publishing individual students’ stories or portfolios of work can be quickly and inexpensively done with readily

A Teacher’s Story: Change and Challenge (continued)

can access it with a password. It provides an excellent place to publish students’ writing, to cel- ebrate accomplishments, and to showcase art work. There is also a message board and a space for blogs. They documented the experience of building and maintaining the site in print and also in video. At the end of the year, they put together a three-minute video collage capturing their year of intense learning about the net and on the net. I was amazed by what these kids accomplished, but I had heard about the dangers of the Internet and I was skeptical. But Jim told me that the stu- dents policed the content very responsibly, with his oversight, and so far he had had no problems with inappropriate content or with unwanted visitors to the site. I may try it myself this year.

I used to worry that technology would replace teachers, but I now know that is not the case and never will be. It’s a very powerful tool, and used appropriately it has the potential to make good teachers great, which means that all students will benefit. It is so exciting that some days I almost regret my decision to retire.

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https://what-if.xkcd.com/49/

Section 10.3 Using Digital Technology

available word processing and publication software. Online publication on class or school websites is another way to share work within the school or with parents, but paper publication is also possible. One caution: Web publication provides the pos- sibility of a much wider audience, and so teachers must carefully monitor the sites on which learners comment about their work or their lives. Most schools have safety measures built into their intranet or portal to the Internet, but once children leave the school, dangers exist, and so it is useful each year, or even more often, to conduct a reminder lesson on Internet safety. There are several available free, including one at GCF LearnFree for older learners and one from Brainpop Educators for younger children.

4. Research. As we saw in Chapter 7, the Common Core State Standards require that students be able to conduct research and evaluate source materials. Research used to be so labor intensive that teachers specified a minimum number of source materi- als just to ensure that students spent time learning how to search for relevant evi- dence. The long hours in the library have been replaced by a few mouse clicks as the Internet has made research easier and faster for both teachers and students. While care must be taken to ensure that students understand that not all source materials on the Internet are accurate, the problem of unfiltered search results is becoming easier to manage. One reason is that, increasingly, peer reviewed journals are mak- ing their content available via digital media, and these journals may be accessed directly or through membership in a library that holds the digital subscription. Nev- ertheless, teaching students how to filter and use quality information is necessary to ensure that they are able to meet the rigorous standards for evidence-based reason- ing that the CCSS establish.

5. Communication. An elementary teacher with several years’ experience recently com- mented that “note-passing is a thing of the past.” It isn’t, of course, but now the notes are text or email messages. Web logs (blogs) dedicated to particular subjects of interest are a great way to build learning communities, of teachers and of students.

6. Organization. Past generations of teachers, especially English teachers, risked back injury with all the paper and books that they carried home with them most nights. Books, three ring binders with lesson plans, grade books, student papers and port- folios—the mountain of paper was overwhelming. Their desks were covered with stacks of assignments to mark, assign- ments to return, lesson plans, grade books, appointment books, attendance sheets, permission forms, and any number of other kinds of paper. Today, teachers have many technological tools at their disposal to eliminate most paper and to speed up all the processes that all that paper represented. Parent-teacher conferences are more produc- tive because parents can track their children’s progress on line and communicate with

Lisa F. Young/iStock/Thinkstock The Internet has given teachers many more resources to call upon as they work together to meet the learning goals they collaboratively established.

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http://www.gcflearnfree.org/internetsafety/1.2

http://www.brainpop.com/educators/community/bp-jr-topic/internet-safety/

Section 10.3 Using Digital Technology

teachers more readily. Organization has been simplified by technology and as more integrative applications are developed, it will become even easier for teachers to deal with the administrative functions more easily and free them to spend time on the things that more directly impact learning.

7. Professional development for teachers. New technologies offer a plethora of opportu- nities and options for teachers to find ideas for teaching, discover new techniques, discuss possible solutions for classroom problems, stay up to date with district, state, and national regulations, seek information about how others are implement- ing CCSS, and share best practices. There are many different types of media, and those listed below include a few examples as illustrations of what is available; for each medium, there are many more:

• Podcasts are digital audio, video, PDF, or ePub files made available on the Internet to be downloaded onto a computer or portable media player—iTunes, for example, has a subscription to podcasts for ELS learners including several short grammar les- sons. Many of the podcasts on iTunes are interactive as well as free.

• Blogs or weblogs—such as Edublogs, Sciencefix, and Mrs. Cassidy’s Classroom Blog to name but a few—invite observers to witness experienced teachers in action and, in Mrs. Cassidy’s case, to watch students as they progress in their learning. They serve as online communities where teachers can learn from each other and share ideas that work.

• Websites of professional organizations such as the American Speech-Language- Hearing Association (ASHA), the National Education Association (NEA), Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), and the National Council of Teach- ers of English (NCTE), among many others, provide useful information for teachers on their sites and often provide links to other resources.

• Other professionally focused websites such as Colorín Colorado, which offers resources and tips for parents and educators on almost everything related to bilin- gual learners, and Edudemic, which focuses on making connections between tech- nology and education, provide a wealth of information.

• Common Core State Standards website. • Websites and information posted by other school districts. New York State,

for example, produces some excellent resources for teachers including one on Technology-Enhanced Instruction for ESL and Bilingual Learners.

• Social media used to connect with other professionals.

These few examples illustrate the potential of technology to change the way teachers plan, teach, assess, and organize their professional lives. But the bigger question is whether tech- nology affects the way that people learn? In other words, does technology just make the learning mechanisms and processes that we already have faster and more efficient? Or does it change the way in which we learn? As we see in Figure 10.1 technology has facilitated four major changes in how we learn.

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http://edublogs.org/

http://www.sciencefix.com/

http://mscassidysclass.edublogs.org

http://www.asha.org/

http://www.tesol.org/

http://www.ncte.org/

http://www.colorincolorado.org/

http://www.edudemic.com/

http://www.p12.nysed.gov/biling/docs/TechProjectFinal.pdf

Passive Active

Ease of differentiated and individualized instruction

Multitasking

Individual Collaborative

Section 10.3 Using Digital Technology

Figure 10.1: How technology is changing learning

Technology has changed and will continue to change the way teachers teach and learners learn.

Adapted from Lepi, K. (2014, August 6). 4 Ways Technology is Changing How People Learn.

Passive Active

Ease of differentiated and individualized instruction

Multitasking

Individual Collaborative

Some of the shifts that are taking place in how we experience learning may not answer the question, but they suggest that we need to pay attention. As J. S. Brown states, one aspect of the Web

is that it is the first medium that honors the notion of multiple intelligences. This past century’s concept of “literacy” grew out of our intense belief in text, a focus enhanced by the power of one particular technology—the typewriter. It became a great tool for writers but a terrible one for other creative activities such as sketching, painting, notating music, or even mathematics. The type- writer prized one particular kind of intelligence, but with the Web, we sud- denly have a medium that honors multiple forms of intelligence—abstract, textual, visual, musical, social, and kinesthetic. As educators, we now have a chance to construct a medium that enables all young people to become engaged in their ideal way of learning. (Brown, J. S., 2000, p. 12)

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Section 10.3 Using Digital Technology

Another popular concern is that digital media are turning children into passive learners, when in fact the opposite appears to be the case. There are two powerful arguments: First, the definition of literacy has broadened beyond text to include image and screen literacy as well as information navigation. As Brown states, “The real literacy of tomorrow entails the ability to be your own personal reference librarian—to know how to navigate through con- fusing, complex informational spaces and feel comfortable doing so” (Brown, J. S., 2000, p. 4). The ability to navigate the Internet may well be the main form of literacy for the 21st century.

Brown goes on to point out that one of the concerns that teachers and parents often express about digital impact on children—that they seem to have shorter attention spans—may not be so troubling as it appears. He suggests that “the short attention spans of today’s kids may turn out to be far from dysfunctional for future work worlds” that require exactly the kind of rapid shifts in attention and multitasking that they are learning as users of digital devices (p. 13). Moreover, as Prensky points out, today’s learners may have shorter attention spans for the old ways of learning, but “their attention spans are not short for games . . . or for anything else that actually interests them” (Prensky, M., 2001, p. 4). For the past several hundred years, the main function of schools has been to retrain our speech-oriented brains to be able to read. Read- ing doesn’t just happen; it almost always has to be taught (Chapters 2 and 6). With the advent of television, the human brain once again had to be recalibrated or reprogrammed to process tele- vision viewing. It is, thus, highly likely that the human brain is changing once more to accommo- date the highly varied and very fast digital media. (See Digital Media and Brain Change).

Digital Media and Brain Change Does extensive use of digital media change the way the brain learns? Probably. Based on research in neurobiology, we know that the input can actually change brain structure and affect the way people think and that these transformations continue through life. Here is some of the evidence:

1. Experiments have shown that when blind people are taught braille the “visual” areas of their brains have “lit up,” showing increased activity, even though they could not see.

2. Similarly, nonhearing people use their auditory cortex to read signs. 3. An experiment in which people were taught a complicated sequence of finger tapping

over several weeks, and then had their brains scanned, showed a larger area of the motor cortex becoming activated than when they performed sequences they had not practiced.

4. Researchers have found that an additional language learned later in life is stored in a different place from the languages they learned as children.

5. A comparison of the brains of musicians and nonmusicians showed 5% greater volume in the cerebellum of the musicians, believed to be a result of intensive musical training and practice.

6. If the brain is not static, that is, if it reorganizes itself and changes itself based on input, as evidence is beginning to show, then digital media has undoubtedly changed the way in which children learn.

Source: Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants, part 2: Do they really think differently? On the Horizon, 9(6), pp. 1–6.

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Section 10.3 Using Digital Technology

The second argument that digital learning is active rather than passive is that young people today do not approach the learning of something new in the way previous generations did. Today, computers and other digital media rarely come with manuals. Hand a six year old a new cell phone or electronic tablet and it is unlikely that she will ask how it works. She cer- tainly won’t ask to see the user’s guide. Rather, she will turn it on and get busy figuring out how it works based on what she has already learned about how similar devices might work.

Technology is here to stay, and it has tremendous potential to have a profound effect on how we teach and learn. Nevertheless, a word of caution is in order. As we move deeper and deeper into technology, we have to do so with the most information available to us. Just as the Com- mon Core State Standards are rooted in evidence, so should the methods and techniques used to realize the standards be grounded in evidence. Before adopting a significant innovation, whether for teaching or testing, it is important to see what the evidence tells us. Fortunately, the very technology we need to be cautious about has also given us the means by which to gather relevant evidence quickly and in increasingly large quantities.

Evidence Matters In its report Expanding Evidence Approaches for Learning in a Digital World (2013), the U.S. Department of Education advises educators to embrace big data for its capacity to provide information not only about student outcomes but on student progress that shines light on the learning process. Warning that the first consideration in evaluating an innovation is whether it will align with deeper learning objectives and incorporate sound principles of learning, the report goes on to describe “how big data and an evidence framework can align across five contexts of educational improvement” (U.S. Department of Education, 2013, p. ix):

1. To guide improvement. By uncovering patterns of learner behavior, educational data mining can be used to guide improvement. If, for example, a significant number of students struggle with questions related to earth science, educators may want to dig deeper and find out what texts are being used and whether the curriculum is adequate.

2. To individualize teaching and learning. Adaptive learning systems adapt the presen- tation of educational material according to individual students’ needs. By comparing

Antonio_Diaz/iStock/Thinkstock Critics who argue that digital media are turning children into passive learners have not paid close attention to children using digital media. Which activity appears to be more engaging to this girl?

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Section 10.4 Assessment and Record Keeping

a learner’s response to materials against a large data base of other learners’ responses, these digital resources can personalize learning by altering the pace, the level of difficulty, or the content.

3. To guide intervention for struggling students. Increasingly, states are using statewide data systems to track information about students, such as when they move between schools. There is also the capability and potential, using big data, to link other social services such as foster care, juvenile justice, or family services with school information.

4. To shift the focus of assessment to new outcomes and to provide more timely informa- tion to educators and learners. Newer adaptive assessment systems make it possible to measure the types of outcomes defined by the CCSS, something that traditional standardized tests rarely captured. Moreover, traditional norm-based standardized tests were usually given near the end of the school year when the results were of little value to the classroom teacher. Further, the current generation of high-stakes tests are mostly given at year’s end. The MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) tests described later in this chapter are a good example of how an adaptive system can gather better data that helps teachers to individualize instruction earlier in the school year.

5. To allow educators to make informed choices about learning resources. Ideally, educa- tors always make their decisions based on evidence of what works and what does not, but that evidence is not always easy to acquire. Big data is changing that, and, increas- ingly, educators are able to choose materials and approaches based on the successes (or failures) of other educators.

10.4 Assessment and Record Keeping Throughout the previous chapters, we have discussed the importance of appropriate assess- ment. Not only do teachers and schools need the information provided by summative assess- ments done at or near the end of the school year, but teachers need to find out what students know or don’t know, what concepts are causing them difficulty, and what they can and can- not do in order to hone their instructional plans while there is still time to make a difference (Chapter 4).

The Common Core State Standards established a set of objectives for each grade level, but they did not establish a set of tests for determining whether students are on track for college and career readiness. In 2010, the U.S. Department of Education established a competitive grant program for state consortia of 15 or more states to develop new assessment systems aligned with the following criteria:

1. prompt return of student-level results, 2. information that helps teachers refine instruction, 3. results that measure student performance over time (to enable evaluation of teacher

and principal effectiveness), and 4. the incorporation of fair and reasonable accommodations for students with dis-

abilities and English language learners. (Center for K–12 Assessment & Performance Management at ETS, 2012 http://www.k12center.org/rsc/pdf/Coming_Together_ April_2012_Final.PDF)

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http://www.k12center.org/rsc/pdf/Coming_Together_April_2012_Final.PDF

Section 10.4 Assessment and Record Keeping

Accountability and Progress Assessments Two consortia were funded, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for Colleges and Careers (PARCC) and Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), with 45 states and the District of Columbia as members of one or both consortia. The member states committed to implementing the common assessments in the 2014–15 school year to replace the NCLB assess- ments in grades three through eight and for high school ELA and mathematics. Since 2010, some states have withdrawn as a result of political pressure, but the consortia remain largely intact.

There are many similarities between PARCC and SBAC—both offer summative assessments and both have optional formative (interim) tests in development. Both utilize computer tech- nology, but PARCC uses a fixed-form delivery, meaning that students are assessed on one of several fixed, equated sets of items or tasks. SBAC, on the other hand, uses computer adap- tive testing (CAT), meaning that students see an individually tailored set of items or tasks.

Computer adaptive technology is also being used in the assessments developed by a third consortium, the North West Education Association (NWEA). Unlike PARCC and SBAC, their formative tests—Measures of Academic Progress (MAP), MAP for Primary Grades (MPG), and Children’s Progress Academic Assessment (CPAA) for pre-K through second grade—are not intended as mandated accountability measures. Rather, they can be given three or four times per year and are intended to provide personalized data in a timely manner so that teachers can adapt their teaching strategies, individualize instruction, or even change direction.

The way CAT works is straightforward: If a test taker is able to answer an intermediate level question, the next question selected will be more difficult. If the student cannot answer an intermediate level question, the program will select an easier one next. In that way, a truer measure of the student’s knowledge or skill level can be attained. There is much potential in this technology for ELL teachers because it corresponds with what we know about compre- hensible input—in order to advance their language learning, learners need to be presented with material that is just slightly beyond their level of competence. Table 10.1 summarizes the similarities and differences among the three assessments.

Alternate Testing Whatever format they take, general summative and formative tests are not suitable for all learners (Chapter 4). No Child Left Behind mandated that states develop appropriate accom- modations for testing reading and mathematics for learners with significant cognitive dis- abilities, and although the states met this requirement by 2005, the type and quality of the tests used varied from state to state. In 2010, the Obama administration offered competitive incentive grants to spur the development of new alternative assessments to be jointly devel- oped by state consortia.

Two consortia were funded, the Dynamic Learning Maps Alternate Assessment Consortium (DLM) and the National Center and State Collaborative (NCSC). Aligned to the Common Core State Standards, the instruments being developed by both consortia will be aligned with both PARCC and SBAC. It is the objective of both DLM and NCSC to provide timely diagnostic information along with instructional support for teachers through a system of “instruction- ally embedded and end-of-year assessments” (Center for K–12 Assessment & Performance Management at ETS, 2012).

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Section 10.4 Assessment and Record Keeping

Both consortia took a broader view of assessment, and the suite of tools they offer in their assessment package includes guidance and support materials for teachers as well as profes- sional development resources. In order to develop these assessment tools, DLM began by defining the essential elements and achievement descriptors of the CCSS for students who take the alternative assessment. They also developed learning maps based on the assumption that there are multiple learning pathways to the same objective or standard. The defining fea- ture of these learning maps is that they provide support for multiple pathways. A significant feature of the DLM learning maps

is that they not only include the definitions of the subject specific skills that students will acquire—such as being able to add a series of three-digit num- bers or define a vocabulary word—but also provide useful delineation of the:

• precursor academic skills needed to master the tested skill; • communication skills required to communicate answers through speech,

pointing, or other means; and • attention skills needed to focus on the task or item (Center for K–12

Assessment & Performance Management at ETS, 2012, p. 35).

The DLM system utilizes a variation of CAT called dynamic delivery. Unlike CAT, which selects items based on their difficulty, dynamic delivery relies on several pieces of informa- tion—for example, the learner’s success with the previous item and the item’s position in the learning map and the amount of support or prompting required. More significantly for the learner and the teacher, the system provides immediate corrective feedback, meaning that it

Table 10.1: Properties of three consortium-created summative and formative tests

Assessment Diagnostic Summative (EOY)

Formative (interim)

Standards/ content tested

Computer adaptive

Number of states/ students (in millions) using

PARCC Yes Yes In development/ optional component

Reading, ELA, mathematics

No 23/25m

SBAC No Yes In development/ optional component

Reading, ELA, mathematics

Yes 37/21m

NWEA MAP No Reading, language usage, mathematics

Yes varies/50m

NWEA CPAA

Pre-K-3 English/ pre-K-2 Spanish

No Yes Early literacy and math skills

Yes, with instructional scaffolding

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Section 10.4 Assessment and Record Keeping

integrates assessment and instruction—or such is the intent. The system was scheduled to begin in the 2014–15 school year and has not yet been used with a significant number of learners.

The assessment system developed by NCSC is similar in its goals, if not in its method. Like DLM, this consortium is developing formative tools along with the summative assessments so that teachers can monitor student progress throughout the year. Instead of learning maps, NCSC bases their tools on Learning Progression Frameworks (LPF) that describe the cur- ricular sequence that typical students follow as they develop and demonstrate greater under- standing in each of the content areas:

From these LPFs for mathematics and English language arts (ELA), NCSC is developing grade-level assessment content targets and alternate achievement standards, linked to the CCSS, for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. The system of assessments, curricular materials, and professional development materials will address these grade-level learning targets in the context of the broader curriculum for all students. (Center for K-12 Assess- ment & Performance Management at ETS, 2012, p. 39)

Like their PARCC counterpart, NCSC is given in an essentially fixed-delivery mode, but there are some differences. NCSC claims to have “a mechanism to determine the appropriate parameters for each student’s assessment participation and teachers will then be given flex- ibility to select appropriate items within those parameters” (Center for K-12 Assessment & Performance Management at ETS, 2012, p. 39). As is the case with DLM, the NCSC consortium assessment has not yet had extensive use and it is too early to judge how user-friendly or effective it is.

ELLs’ Language Proficiency Testing Since the enactment of No Child Left Behind in 2001, all states have assessed K–12 English language learners annually until they are deemed to be proficient in English. States are also required to participate in the state academic assessments of mathematics and English lan- guage arts. As we learned in Chapter 4, it is sometimes necessary to make accommodations for ELLs. In 2011, the U.S. Department of Education offered a competitive grant to develop new assessments for ELLs who met the following criteria:

• consortium members would agree on a common definition of English language learner;

• the test would include both diagnostic and summative assessments; • the test would assess all four domains of English language proficiency from kinder-

garten through 12th grade; • the assessment would produce results that indicated whether individuals had

attained a level and complexity of English proficiency necessary to participate fully in academic instruction entirely in English;

• the assessment tools would be accessible to all English language learners except those who were eligible for alternative assessment, such as those with severe cogni- tive disabilities; and

• technology would be used to the maximum extent appropriate to develop, adminis- ter, and score the tests.

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Section 10.5 Building Learning Communities

Only one grant was awarded, to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction in collabo- ration with the World-Class Instructional and Design Consortium. The 29 state consortium is developing a system called Assessment Services Supporting ELLs through Technology Systems (ASSETS), and they are creating a diagnostic/placement instrument, interim prog- ress tests, and an annual summative measure of English language proficiency. Expected to be available for the 2015–16 school year, ASSETS will test all four skill areas from K–12 using computer delivery. The first iteration of the test will not utilize computer adaptive technology, but the consortia are considering developing an adaptive version at a later time. In the meantime, the English language assessment of MAP is used by some schools for ELLs and may be particularly useful for teachers with ELLs in a mainstream class. St. Paul school district recommends that ELLs be allowed to attempt the MAP at the appropriate grade level. The computer adaptive function will select lower grade levels if the items are too difficult and will generate no scores if learners are guessing. Very preliminary research indicates that MAP can provide a fair assessment of academic progress in English for ELLs (Bohlman, 2012).

10.5 Building Learning Communities Although elementary school teachers are usually responsible for the entire curricu- lum, it is frequently the case that individual teachers excel at one or two particular sub- jects. Back in the first chapter, we recognized the fact that today’s teachers have heavy demands placed on them, whether there are ELLs in their classes or not. When we add the particular needs of ELLs to the heavy emphasis that the CCSS puts on informational text and the integration of science and social studies into the ELA curriculum, not to mention accountability testing, we can see that collaboration can lead to better teaching and outcomes.

As we saw in Chapter 1, teachers are held accountable for their pupils’ test scores and there is often pressure from the district or school administrative personnel to “prepare for the test.” Collaborative professional development can go a long way toward demystifying the testing process for teachers and increasing understanding of what skills the test is evaluating and how the skills are evaluated. In particular, when teachers work together, reading a sample text and completing sample tasks or answering questions, they

begin to wrap their heads around the cognitive demands of the prompt. This simple but very important step helps teachers clarify expectations of profi- cient work, and builds a common understanding of proficient work within a team and across a building. Additionally it supports the teacher in creating a coherent plan that delivers content instruction clearly. Teachers, working in collaborative teams, talk about instruction, and sometimes these poignant moments unearth content or pedagogy deficiencies that can be quickly addressed. (Krehbiel, 2012, p. 9)

By understanding how to take advantage of each other’s individual interests, teachers can maximize their instructional effectiveness. Teachers with different skills and interests can work together to plan lessons—for example, a teacher with a particular interest in or gift for science can work with a language arts teacher to ensure that the goals of language learning

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Section 10.5 Building Learning Communities

and content learning are met and that the standards are met. Or a teacher who has had extra professional development on the implementation of the Common Core State Standards can help colleagues to see that a particular standard should receive greater focus or be discon- nected from a particular lesson.

Another way for teachers to collaborate is a kind of bartering system—teachers can “trade” their own strengths and interests with those of another teacher. A gifted art teacher, for exam- ple, can exchange her time with the gifted math teacher of another class. Some of the program options available for ELLs require collaboration between teachers. For example, with the pull-out program (Chapter 4), cooperation between the mainstream classroom teacher and the ESL teacher can take many forms. Ideally, it begins with planning. Mr. Sanchez had only a part-time ESL teacher available to assist with Elena, but getting her input and advice before beginning the unit on homelessness helped him to make his plan more inclusive of Elena and the other ELLs. He conferred regularly with the ESL teacher who was able to identify prob- lematic areas in Elena’s comprehension and to recommend activities for her that Mr. Sanchez could carry out in the classroom or in homework assignments.

All the examples so far have shown the impact of collaboration for addressing particular issues or situations. Situational collaboration is very effective, and it is a wise school leader who facilitates strong working relationships among teachers so that they can help each other, not only after a problem or issue arises, but before. The professional learning community (PLC) is not a “one of ” but a framework for ongoing professional development. There are two basic models, although each can be implemented in slightly different ways.

School-based Professional Learning Communities Professional learning communities provide a structure in which teachers can collaboratively engage in ongoing professional development that is targeted to the goals and objectives of the school. Professional development that is embedded into the expectations, organization, and schedule of the school is likely to have a more enduring impact than onetime workshops or webinars. The point of a PLC is to foster collaboration, but not collaboration for collabo- ration’s sake. Rather, the purpose is “to make an impact on classroom practice in order to achieve better results. Participation in a PLC allows teachers to engage in ongoing dialogue around their repertoire of effective instructional strategies and build a sense of community” (Linton, 2011, para. 3).

For schools with ELL learners, the PLC can be an extremely effective tool. Broadly based conversations and discussions about bilingualism, about the nature of second language learning and teaching, analyzing student data, and tracking the progress of individual learners can all be facilitated in this environment. But the true value of the PLC lies in the opportunities for teachers to create plans to meet the needs of diverse learners, espe- cially in the context of the CCSS. Teachers can deconstruct lesson plans and rebuild them to align with CCSS standards that they collectively identify, while providing the individual- ized adaptations that ELLs—and other learners—may require. They can talk about upcom- ing units and how subjects can be integrated—how, for example, can the art teacher or music teacher contribute to the theme of homelessness in Mr. Sanchez’s lesson? Is there a CCSS aligned math lesson in there somewhere? These conversations allow teachers to gain hands-on skills while simultaneously drawing on the knowledge and skill set of every teacher in the school.

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Section 10.5 Building Learning Communities

An Extended Example: Deer Park Elementary Builds CommunityLearn The teachers at Deer Park Elementary School had all been experiencing some uncertainty and frustration about the Common Core when they attended a one day participatory conference on collaborative teaching and learning. From that experience, they could see some of the ben- efits to taking a more collaborative approach, but like many experienced teachers, they knew that the impact of a one-day conference would fade away unless they acted deliberatively. So the teachers of Deer Park Elementary School organized themselves into a learning commu- nity. They decided that taking a collaborative approach to teaching would help to reduce their anxiety, and more importantly, help them to be more effective in planning and implementing curriculum and instruction for the new standards. Once the teachers had decided to organize a PLC, the principal, Mr. Hayes, worked with the district office to adjust the schedule at Deer Park to accommodate half-day working sessions every two weeks. Figure 10.2, The Commu- nity Calendar, shows the first two months of their schedule for the 2014–15 academic year.

As the Deer Park PLC schedule shows, the teachers recognized that their community could be expanded. Parents and community associations could play important roles in the learning community.

Deer Park Elementary School’s CommunityLearn is a new community, and it is too soon to judge its success. Its chances for success are good, however, because the participants built into their organization and plan most of the elements others have found successful. Specifically,

1. They spent time learning how to collaborate. By planning their workshops as partici- patory collaborative sessions, they were able to do small scale collaborative exer- cises that will benefit them as they move into larger collaborative activities. Some PLCs have a trained PLC facilitator, but the Deer Park teachers decided that their small group would rely on their principal if they needed a facilitator. As the schedule shows, however, they did not often call on him but took charge of their own learning.

2. They worked within an atmosphere of trust. Only one of the teachers at Deer Park was new to the school and so they entered into the community building project trusting one another. It takes trust for a teacher to admit to not understanding or knowing how to do something, and CommunityLearn had that from the outset.

3. Sufficient time. The teachers were wise to build the PLC into the regular schedule of the school year and to commit to it over the course of the year. The adjustments needed to the student schedules were minimal, and all that was required by the dis- trict office was to change the order of the school bus drop-off to allow the school day to start eight minutes earlier.

4. A broad and inclusive attitude.

Although many PLCs consist only of teachers, a broader population can be brought in, such as administrators, parents, and community mem- bers who support their school. The objective is to align everyone’s interests and expertise with the school’s vision and goals (Ullman, 2009). As the November 7 schedule for CommunityLearn shows, these teachers recognized that there are others in the community who have a stake in the school, its students, and their outcomes. One of the groups they identified was a local community center that served a mostly His- panic population. This center offered translation services, among oth- ers, for recently arrived Spanish speakers. Bringing their director into the PLC would, they believed, help them to be more effective in plan- ning inclusive practice for their growing number of Hispanic ELLs.

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Deer Park Elementary School CommunityLearn

2014–15 Schedule

August 20, All Day

Implementing the CCSS: Overview Assessing the Standards

Practice test exercises RTI (response to intervention) benchmarking

Information about new students and their needs

Principal Hayes Ms. Canfield, Special Ed

Principal Hayes & Ms. Canfield

Ms. Jacobs, Asst. Principal

August 21, Morning

Planning for diverse learners (gifted, special ed, ELL)

August 25 SCHOOL STARTS!!!!

September 19, Afternoon

Interpreting RTI results: Where do we go from here?

Ms. Jacobs & Mr. Acevedo

October 3, Afternoon

Preparing quarterly reports: How has CCSS changed what is reported to parents? How should they change reporting to parents?

Mr. Wilson, 5th grade

Group exercise

October 17, Morning & Afternoon

Interim progress monitoring: The new system Collaboration at all stages: • Planning • Teaching • Evaluating

District personnel Mr. Acevedo & Ms. Saab,

2nd grade Mr. Wilson & Ms. Richards,

Art Ms. Canfield & Ms. Reyes, 4th grade

November 7 Expanding our Community • via parents • via local community associations • via the Web

Ms. Acevedo

Ms. Canfield

Ms. Charles, 1st grade & Mr. Levine, 3rd grade

Ms. Canfield & Mr. Acevedo (ELL/ESL)

Date Topics Leaders

Section 10.5 Building Learning Communities

Deer Park Elementary School CommunityLearn

2014–15 Schedule

August 20, All Day

Implementing the CCSS: Overview Assessing the Standards

Practice test exercises RTI (response to intervention) benchmarking

Information about new students and their needs

Principal Hayes Ms. Canfield, Special Ed

Principal Hayes & Ms. Canfield

Ms. Jacobs, Asst. Principal

August 21, Morning

Planning for diverse learners (gifted, special ed, ELL)

August 25 SCHOOL STARTS!!!!

September 19, Afternoon

Interpreting RTI results: Where do we go from here?

Ms. Jacobs & Mr. Acevedo

October 3, Afternoon

Preparing quarterly reports: How has CCSS changed what is reported to parents? How should they change reporting to parents?

Mr. Wilson, 5th grade

Group exercise

October 17, Morning & Afternoon

Interim progress monitoring: The new system Collaboration at all stages: • Planning • Teaching • Evaluating

District personnel Mr. Acevedo & Ms. Saab,

2nd grade Mr. Wilson & Ms. Richards,

Art Ms. Canfield & Ms. Reyes, 4th grade

November 7 Expanding our Community • via parents • via local community associations • via the Web

Ms. Acevedo

Ms. Canfield

Ms. Charles, 1st grade & Mr. Levine, 3rd grade

Ms. Canfield & Mr. Acevedo (ELL/ESL)

Date Topics Leaders

Figure 10.2: The Community Calendar

In this example, educators at Deer Park Elementary School decide to take a collaborative, long-term approach to help ensure their curriculum and instruction satisfy Common Core standards.

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E xc

ng e Collaboration

Teach Le

ar n

District and community resources

School colleagues

Teacher

National and international colleagues

via the internet

Section 10.5 Building Learning Communities

The Deer Park teachers had all called on Internet resources from time to time and recog- nized the Web as the powerful tool it can be. They had no desire to create an exclusively online PLC, however, but rather sought to use it as a means to include the wider professional community in their community. The model they envisioned for their PLC was the one shown in Figure 10.3.

Ellen Rodriguez, the teacher we met in Chapter 1, has now retired. Her reflections on a career spent teaching dual language learners give us some perspective on how the future of teaching looks to someone who remembers so much of the past. This reflection is excerpted from the speech she gave at a banquet given in her honor by her colleagues.

Figure 10.3: Communities within communities: The PLC

A professional learning community can extend beyond a single school and include educators in different districts, neighboring states, or even other countries.

E xc

ng e Collaboration

Teach Le

ar n

District and community resources

School colleagues

Teacher

National and international colleagues

via the internet

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Summary & Resources

Summary We identified in this chapter the 12 major themes that emerged throughout the book and examined how they are realized in the planning, teaching, and evaluating of learners. The implementation of the Common Core State Standards and the adaptations that need to be made for individual learners, and especially English language learners, means that teachers need to be able to call on a wider range of resources. Fortunately, the digital age has made it easy for teachers to visit or even join a much larger community of professionals, draw- ing from their experiences to grow their own repertoire of techniques and tools. The digital age also reminds us of the value of our colleagues, and somewhat paradoxically, the value of face-to-face contact. We see in the establishment of professional learning communities much hope for an approach to teaching practice that is as integrated as the content areas are in the Common Core standards. Collaboration with colleagues in cyberspace or in the classroom down the hall adds a richness to the experience of teaching that makes helping ELLs to succeed in school and to realize their potential as members of the community a truly fulfilling undertaking.

A Teacher’s Story: A Life of Love and Laughter

Can you imagine spending 7,200 of your days doing the same thing? Those of you who have just begun your careers can’t imagine how this is possible, and when I began, neither could I—which is okay because as it turned out, I didn’t. Yes, I taught for roughly 7,200 days, more than that if you count the weekends spent chaperoning, grading papers, tutoring, or just turn- ing up to watch a young boy play soccer because he didn’t have anybody else in his life who would bother, but I wasn’t doing the same thing. There were days when I wished I had some old standby to fall back on, and like all of you, I did have my tried-and-true bag of tricks, but no two classes ever needed the same things or responded in the same way, and so even when I tried, I couldn’t do the same thing. I’m grateful for that. For that and so much more . . . .

One of the reasons that teaching kept me so engaged for so long is that early in my career I was assigned a class with mostly second language learners. I wasn’t so grateful for that at first. In fact, I was petrified, but what kept me working so hard was the progress I could see almost daily. For the most part, teachers have to be patient—we don’t often see immediate progress, except in baby steps. But I found, and have often said, that if you are not a patient person, if you need to see results right away, get yourself assigned to a first grade class filled with second language learners. You don’t have to wait to the end of a quarter to test them to see what they’ve learned—you can see and hear it every day. And soon, they are teaching you! The year I had a fifth grade class that was made up of kids from five different countries, it was like I was able to go on a world tour. They also taught me enough to keep me from embarrassing myself with new technologies. When the school put in its first computer lab, I traded math tutoring for one of my fourth graders for lessons on how to use the desktops, and when the school put two of the things in my room, I watched over their shoulders as my third graders took turns using the publishing software. It was a first grader who showed me a few years ago how to turn on my smart phone and a fifth grader who set it up to send and receive email. Just as I’m finally learning to leave the 20th century behind and embrace the new ways of teaching and learning, it is time to pass the challenge on to another generation. It is a generation in which I have a great deal of faith, and if you find in teaching even a small measure of the joy that I have found, you will live a very rich and fulfilling life.

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Summary & Resources

Critical Thinking Questions

1. When Mr. Sanchez was unable to get a formal assessment of Elena and David, his first step was to call their families and arrange a meeting. Why was this an important component of his assessment of the learners?

2. For his initial assessment of the new ELLs, why did Mr. Sanchez focus on reading?

Key Ideas

1. ELLs are not a homogeneous group but are as possessed of the full range of variabil- ity as native speakers, in addition to all the diversity attributable to being bicultural and bilingual.

2. Listening, speaking, reading, and writing are equally important for achieving com- municative competence, but reading and writing dominate the school agenda.

3. Educators must take the view that English is an additional language for dual lan- guage learners; it is not a replacement language!

4. Implementing the Common Core State Standards for ELLs requires adaptation at the planning, instructional, and assessment stages.

5. In evaluating an innovation, an educator’s first concern must be that it aligns with deeper learning objectives and incorporates sound learning principles.

Effective teaching requires cooperation and collaboration among colleagues in the school, other community members, and beyond —to national and international colleagues via the Web.

Key Terms

big data Data sets that are too large to manipulate and use with standard meth- ods or tools but are accessible with digital technology.

blogs/weblog A personal website on which an individual records opinions and informa- tion, such as links to other websites.

computer adaptive testing (CAT) The use of computers to select test items based on a learner’s response to previous items.

data mining The practice of examin- ing large databases to generate new information.

dynamic delivery A kind of CAT that relies on several pieces of information, such as the learner’s success with the previous item and the item’s position in the learning map

and the amount of support or prompting required.

fixed-form delivery Computer-delivered tests for which students are assessed on one of several fixed, equated sets of items or tasks.

podcast Digital audio or video files (in various digital formats) available through subscription and downloaded or streamed onto a computer or mobile device.

professional learning communities (PLC) Groups of educators who meet regu- larly, in person or virtually, and work col- laboratively to improve teaching skills and academic performance of students.

webinar A seminar conducted live over the Internet.

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21st Century Student Outcomes and Support Systems

Life and Career Skills

Core Subjects—3Rs and 21st Century Themes Information,

Media, and Technology

Skills

Learning and Innovation Skills—4Cs

Critical thinking * Communication Collaboration * Creativity

Standards and Assessments

Curriculum and Instruction

Professional Development

Learning Environments

Summary & Resources

3. During the informal reading inventory Mr. Sanchez administered, David sometimes resorted to Spanish to make himself understood. Should this concern Mr. Sanchez? Why?

4. Can you suggest an alternate introductory activity using a new technology for Mr. Sanchez’s unit on homelessness?

5. Why do you think Mr. Sanchez chose Lexile 700, fifth grade, as a cut-off point? 6. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills produced a toolkit that includes a guide for

aligning their framework with the CCSS, entitled P21 Common Core Toolkit: A Guide to Aligning the Common Core State Standards with the Framework for 21st Cen- tury Skills. The document includes the following graphic (Figure 10.4). Examine it carefully, and then, using the information and insights you have gained in this book, explain what the graphic means and how its parts relate to one another.

Figure 10.4: 21st century student outcomes and support systems

Source: P21, Framework for 21st Century Learning. Used with permission from Partnership for 21st Century Skills, www.p21.org.

21st Century Student Outcomes and Support Systems

Life and Career Skills

Core Subjects—3Rs and 21st Century Themes Information,

Media, and Technology

Skills

Learning and Innovation Skills—4Cs

Critical thinking * Communication Collaboration * Creativity

Standards and Assessments

Curriculum and Instruction

Professional Development

Learning Environments

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https://www.facebook.com/#!/terry.piper.16/posts/749364185123877?comment_id=749689991757963&notif_t=like

http://www.p21.org

Summary & Resources

Additional Resources For ideas on how to use technology with ELLs, see http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2009/04/07/the-best-sources-for-ideas-on-how-to-use- technology-with-english-language-learners/

The Teaching Channel has a good example of how collaboration is used for planning a CCSS aligned lesson for ELLs at https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teacher-collaboration-for-ccss-ells-nea

Dennis Van Roekel helps to ease the concerns of teachers fearing the Common Core in his article Getting to the Core of Common Core on the National Education Association website at http://www.nea.org/home/53977.htm

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http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2009/04/07/the-best-sources-for-ideas-on-how-to-use-technology-with-english-language-learners/

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teacher-collaboration-for-ccss-ells-nea

http://www.nea.org/home/53977.htm

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